GRATERFORD — Facing their toughest challenge of the season, the Perkiomen Valley boys came in twice as pumped up and kept right on streaking, holding off Boyertown, 100-83, in a Pioneer Athletic Conference showdown to stretch their record of consecutive dual meet wins to 32, Tuesday, at the Vikings pool.

And that’s not just PAC-10 dual wins, but includes Ches-Mont League and non-league duals, starting back in 2010.

The Perk Valley girls made it a clean sweep, beating Boyertown, 98-77,

Advertisement

Both boys teams came in undefeated in the PAC-10 at 5-0. The Bears gave the Vikings a fight, leading to two Perk Valley pool records and three team records.

Perk Valley wasted no time erasing the old pool record in the 200-yard medley relay in their first event with a 1:37.37 with Will Swiss, Wyatt Amdor, Sean Hodgins and Kyle Dix, wiping away the mark 1:39.44 set by Henderson in 2008.

Amdor also brought the 100 breaststroke record back to the hometown boys with a 59.70. For years that record had belonged to former Viking standout Ross Buckwalter, until earlier this year when a Henderson swimmer snatched it away. Amdor also won the 200 individual medley with a blistering 1:59.47.

But the Bears boys put up a heck of a fight, led by Steve Miller, who battled it out stroke for stroke with the Vikings’ freestyle standout Seth Underwood.

Miller beat Underwood in the 200 free (1:46.22), while Underwood took second (1:47.29). But, hard as he went for it, Underwood held Miller off in the 500 free with a 4:47.37 to Miller’s 4:47.54.

Underwood and Miller promptly came back in the relays, with Miller anchoring the Bears 200 free relay in the next event and Underwood swimming in the Vikings’ winning 400 free relay to close out the meet.

The Vikings’ Will Swiss took second to the Bears Chase Renninger (53.89), with Swiss’ 54.49 still a team record. Funny thing is, Swiss swims on the Boyertown YMCA team. On Sunday he’ll be swimming in a Boyertown Y meet with the some of the same guys he swam against here.

“It definitely added more of a competitive character because I know all these kids,” Swiss said. “A little bit of bragging rights on the line today. I was most worried about the (Boyertown) Wolf Pack, meaning the medley relay. But we went out hard and we won it. I thought we swam really well in most of the events. There were a couple that could have gone either way, but I think it was good.”

Maybe it was that brightly bleached blond hair all the Vikings were suddenly sporting that gave them the edge.

“Team unity, bring us a little closer together,” Amdor said. “We did well, they gave us a lot of competition. And it felt good to get that pool and team record in the 100 breast.”

Not that Amdor ever knew Buckwalter, who graduated half a dozen years ago. This is his first year with the Vikings.

“Now 32 wins, that’s pretty amazing,” he said. “We’ll try and keep it going into next year. But we still have a couple of good meets coming up next week (Coatesville and Upper Perkiomen). And, of course, then there’s districts and states.”

Underwood, Sean Hodgins and Swiss are the veterans for the Vikings, and were there when the streak started. Underwood was the area’s highest finisher at states last year, placing fourth in the 500 free consolation finals,

He could only shake his head over the fight Miller gave him in the 200 and 500 free.

“He’s a really good up-and-coming swimmer,” Underwood said. “I’ve come to watch him ever since districts last year and he surprised me today in the 500. He dropped some serious time. I got to give him a lot of props for that race. That and the 200 free, that was insane. I’m kind of sad that I’m not going to race him next year.”

Underwood is a senior, Miller a junior.

“I feel really good about this year,” Underwood said. “Because we’ve been working harder than we ever have been before. And we’ve really come together as a team this year. Just all the right pieces were there this year. We were 4-10 my freshman year, then my sophomore year we were 10-4.”

And the Vikings took off from there.

“That’s the most nervous I’ve been and the most butterflies I’ve had in a dual meet ever,” said veteran Perk Valley coach Jack Graham. “I’ve never wanted a meet to start so much in all the meets that I’ve ever coached. ‘I don’t want to wait anymore, let’s get this over with.’”

Adding to the tension was the nearly two decade battle between Graham and Bears coach Linda Jones.

“Linda and I have been coaching high school for the same amount of time, 17 years both of us,” Graham said. “I can remember the countless number of meets. She is an excellent coach, she has an excellent program, her kids are always ready to swim. That was evident today. We really had to change some thing and get prepared. Because guys like Steve Miller, Nick Savino, Russell Lamber, both the Vivians (Nick and Parker Vivian), Cody Weiler, Shane Corbett. I’ve became obsessed with them because they’ve become a lot better and, to keep up, we had to do the same thing. That competition really drives you. If you would have told me we’d go a 1:37.3 (in the medley relay), I wouldn’t have believed it. That’s what competition does.”

Perk Valley’s Chase Ott won the boys diving (155.50), while the Vikings Morgan Christman won the girls diving (201.65). Boyertown does not have divers because their home pool does not have the facility for it. But the Vikings would have swept the meet without diving points.

The Viking girls were led by Allie Bonsall with three wins, with Boyertown’s Laura Simpson matching her.

Bonsall won the 100 butterfly (1:03.48) and swam on the winning 200 medley and 200 free relays. Both the Vikings (4-2 PAC-10) and Bears (4-2) girls are still in rebuilding mode.

“We were just excited to swim Boyertown, get some good times,” Bonsall said. “I felt we did good as a team. And we just really wanted to get hind the boys and support them. We definitely lost a lot of good girls, but we still have a good group and we’re just excited to see what we can do this season.”

Simpson easily took the 200 free (2:01.70), the 500 free (5:31.30) and swam on the winning 400 free relay.

“They are good competition,” Simpson said. “We have a young team. And we might have been just a little off today. I think next year we’ll have a lot of good swimmers and more success.” For now both the Perk Valley and Boyertown boys continue to steal the show.

“We wanted to beat them after we lost to them last year, but we came close this year,” Miller said. “This is always a very important meet for us. After I won that 200 free we were definitely more fired up. That contributed to my 500 as well. That 500 was just a great race. I want to be on top of the PAC-10 just like Seth does.”

And right after the 500 free, Miller had to get right back in an anchor the 200 free relay.

“That was just extremely tiring,” he said. “Getting out of the pool and have to right away swim again. It’s tough on your legs. I hope we beat them at districts and, hopefully, next year.”

For Bears coach Linda Jones it was a tough loss to take.

“We could have won the meet,” Jones said. “We had a few swims that were close that we didn’t get. We knew we had no margin for error, everything had to really work out well for us, especially with their diving. Some kids swam really well, some kids swam OK for us. And you can’t have anybody swim OK when you’re swimming a tough team that’s ready and suited up.

“And we were too far behind before diving (35-27 on the boys side). And we couldn’t be that far behind at that point. We needed to win that medley relay. We lost that relay. If we’d picked it up in the IM, but their kid (Amdor) swam a 1:59. Russell (Lambert) did his best time (2:00.89), Then we were 19 points down after the diving. We were strong at the end of the meet, had a chance, They just swam a little bit better than us.”

And the Vikings streak goes on.

“It’s a great bunch of kids,” Graham said. “This is a veteran group and I have a lot of confidence that our captain, Seth, Sean and Will would have the fire necessary (to lead them). There wasn’t a lot to be said, they knew what to do, and they’ve proven it over the last two years.

“As for our girls, they started off and got hit by some really good teams. But they have a chance to run the table, finish with nine consecutive wins at 10-4. They’ve really come together, swam well today.”